1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to a page turning apparatus for mechanically turning pages of a book.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Various mechanical page turning devices have been advanced in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,775,580 issued July 24, 1956 to E. V. Justice, illustrates a page turning device that has a linear movable arm that forms a "curl" or arch in the page that is to be turned, and a rotating arm rotates above the level of the book pages so that it comes underneath the curl or arch, to turn the page, and then the arm comes to a stop over the newly opened pages in its stopped position. One of the disadvantages of this particular device is that during a substantial portion of rotation, the pages are left without any holding member tending to keep the previously turned pages open, which can give problems with the page going back to its original position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,361 issued Oct. 24, 1978 to D'Arcy shows an automatic page turner that has a drive from a single gear motor. It has a member that forms a curl in a page to be turned, and there are hold-down members to helf form the curl in the page. A pair of flipper members are used, which rotate with the gear motor, and turn the page. The device includes page hold-down members so that the book can be held upside down for reading, if desired, and the motions involve fairly complex movements with a number of moving elements that may cause problems in page turning.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,791,849, patented May 14, 1957 by Brenneke, shows the use of suction to lift a page to be turned, and then a single rotating arm turns that page.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,242, patented Mar. 23, 1965 by Degorski et al, shows a page turner assembly wherein the pages have to be interleafed with coils of a spring, and then a rotating arm will systematically turn the pages in sequence. However, interleafing the spring and pages restricts the practical application of the device to something that has very few pages. While the spring will turn and spiral down into other pages as it rotates, it would appear that it would cause some problems in the individual separating of pages unless great care was taken.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,885,806, patented May 12, 1959 by Storm, Jr. et al, shows an adjustable page turner that has a rotating member with a number of radially extending arms. This device has quite a large hoop-type arrangement, and takes up substantial space. The motions are fairly complex as well, and while it depends only a rotary motion, and does have means resting on the pages to retain them in open position, it depends upon a fricton created movement of a page to insure that the page is lifted and turned, and depends upon the movement of a single arm for turning the page. The friction device depends on a sticky surface such as masking tape for the turning operation. In the specification, it indicates that the tape has to be changed as the tape becomes glazed, and has means for doing so. For incapacitated people, this can be a difficult task.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,644, patented June 28, 1977 to Rogers, shows a motion that uses a frictional wheel that will turn the pages, but which not only rotates but also translates, that is, moves from side to side. The motions are fairly involved in order to obtain the page turning action.
U.S. Pat. No. 868,903, issued Oct. 22, 1907 to Alrich, provides a book or music leaf turner, has a large number of moving parts, and uses rack and pinion gears for operation upon movement of a lever. The device shows that a foot pedal is alternately used for actuating the unit.
The patent does not show a device for forming a curl and a rotating member that will turn the page as it continues to operate.